Hosting Ubuntu Guest VM under EMT Host#

Install and Setup Ubuntu VM#

Prerequisites#

  1. Installation scripts

    Download the required installation scripts from the release package RPL-S_RPL-SR_KVM_MultiOS.zip, obtained from Your Intel Representative.

    Run the following

    # Change to work directory
cd ~

# Copy files
cp <source path>/virtualization.multios.kvm.scripts-rpls_sriov_kvm_multios_emt-3.1_ww2525.zip .

# Extract script files
unzip -jo virtualization.multios.kvm.scripts-rpls_sriov_kvm_multios_emt-3.1_ww2525.zip

  2. Ubuntu ISO image

    Download Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS image

Prepare Ubuntu VM image#

  1. Create a symlink.

    ln -s ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64+intel-iot.iso ubuntu.iso

  2. Create an empty Ubuntu image file.

    cd /home/$USER/
qemu-img create -f qcow2 ubuntu.qcow2 64G

  3. Prepare OVMF files.

    cd /home/$USER/
ln -sf ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd OVMF_CODE.fd
cp ovmf/OVMF_VARS.fd OVMF_VARS_ubuntu.fd

  4. Create a separate copy of OVMF for Ubuntu VM use:

    # Make a copy of OVMF for Ubuntu guest
ln -sf ovmf/OVMF_CODE.fd OVMF_CODE.fd
cp ovmf/OVMF_VARS.fd OVMF_VARS_ubuntu.fd

Install Ubuntu VM Image#

  1. Run install_ubuntu.sh to start Ubuntu guest VM installation.

    # Start guest VM to install Ubuntu
sudo ./install_ubuntu.sh

    Note: If guest VM enters UEFI shell instead of Ubuntu, please type the following in the EFI shell:

    fs0:
cd efi/boot
grubx64.efi

    Then, press the enter key and continue booting to Ubuntu, as shown below.

    Ubuntu Boot Screen

  2. Install Ubuntu for the guest OS.

    Ubuntu Install UI

    Note: At the end of Ubuntu installation, the installer will ask you to remove the installation disk. Just press ‘Enter’ to reboot to the newly installed Ubuntu guest OS.

Configure Ubuntu Guest VM#

  1. Open a terminal within the Ubuntu guest VM.

  2. Run the command shown below to upgrade Ubuntu software.

    # Upgrade Ubuntu software
sudo apt -y update
sudo apt -y upgrade

    Note: If operating behind a corporate firewall, setup proxy settings as required.

  3. Install custom intel kernel and configure the Ubuntu guest OS.

    Copy the following files and directories from the /home/$USER directory of the host OS to the /home/$USER/ directory of the guest OS:

    • lts2024-iotg-kernel-rel.tar.gz

    • the packages directory

    • the sriov_install directory

    Boot into the Ubuntu guest image:

    # Change to work directory
cd ~

# Copy install files from host into /home/$USER
# Format:
# scp -r <host_user>@<host_ip>:<host_source_dir>{file1,
# file2,
# file3,
# dir1,
# dir2} <guest_target_dir>
# where,
# <host_user>: the username of your host machine.
# <host_ip>: the IP address of your host machine.
# <host_source_dir>: source directory on the host
# <guest_target_dir>: target directory on the guest
scp -r <host_user>@<host_ip>:/home/<host_user>/{lts2024-iotg-kernel-rel.tar.gz,virtualization.multios.kvm.scripts-rpls_sriov_kvm_multios_emt-3.1_ww2525.zip,packages,sriov_install} /home/$USER

# Extract script files
unzip -jo virtualization.multios.kvm.scripts-rpls_sriov_kvm_multios_emt-3.1_ww2525.zip
unzip sriov_patches.zip

# Perform kernel setup
# This will install kernel and firmware, and update grub
sudo ./sriov_setup_kernel.sh

# Reboot the guest
sudo reboot

  4. Reboot into the guest:

    # after reboot check the kernel version
uname -r
6.12.32-lts2024-iotg

# Update and configure the guest
sudo ./configure_ubuntu_guest.sh

    IMPORTANT: Please shutdown the guest properly once the installation is completed!

    The ubuntu.qcow2 image is now ready to use.

Configuration Options for Running Ubuntu VM#

Changing Guest VM Memory and Number of CPUs#

The default launch command without any parameters is for 2 cores and 2G RAM. You can change that with startup parameters.

Below is an example of guest start configuration for 4 cores and 4GB of RAM:

# Add -m option to specify 4G of memory
# Add -c option to specify 4 cpu cores for guest VM
sudo -E ./start_ubuntu.sh -m 4G -c 4

Enabling USB Devices in Guest VM#

For Ubuntu guest VMs, USB devices can be setup in two ways:

  1. Passthrough of all USB host devices.

    USB host passthrough parameter option can be added in the launch command to passthrough all USB devices on the USB host.

    Add an additional parameter to the Guest VM launch command:

    # Note: all connected USB devices will be passthrough to the
guest VM with USB host passthrough option
sudo -E ./start_ubuntu.sh --passthrough-pci-usb

  2. Passthrough of selected USB devices.

    An external command option can be used to passthrough only a few selected USB devices.

    Retrieve the vendorid and productid of USB device. In this example, 046d is vendor ID, c06a is product ID.

    # On target terminal.
lsusb
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 046d:c06a Logitech, Inc. USB Optical
Mouse

    Add an additonal parameter to the Guest VM launch command:

    # Add extra command when start guest
sudo -E ./start_ubuntu.sh -e "-device usb-host,vendorid=0x046d,productid=0xc06a"

Note: A passthrough device option can only be used once because a device can be passed through to only 1 guest VM at a time.

Enabling PCIe Wi-Fi Adapter Device in Guest VM#

For Ubuntu guest VMs, PCI Wi-Fi device passthrough can be setup by adding --passthrough-pci-wifi parameter to guest VM launch command:

# Add --passthrough-pci-wifi for passing through Wifi adapter
sudo -E ./start_ubuntu.sh --passthrough-pci-wifi